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Hymn to Spirits

and I�ll press my hand
against the glass of Sunday�s
bleak mirror

gaze at the small gap
between palm and reflection,
pondering the liminal

for much the same reason
as planting bare feet
at a dark crossroads
to silently meet
the man in black

as he speaks, always
through sacred wells, and ruins
that drop their anchors down
to where the Otherworld resides.

There are times when I become sick
of the new age and its fluff

because

the folk spirits I know,
well�

they like it rough

Black Shuck
Gytrash
Bucca Dhu

snarling
through storm clouds,
vertical rain, viscous wind�
they howl across an empty moor.

At night, their haunted fog rolls in.

The land, so much colder than before.

Written by Northern_Soul

Published 8th Apr 2024

Author's Note

Letters to the Old Ways
8/30

Black Shuck - East Anglian lore. A ghostly black dog mainly associated with neighbouring coastlines. It prowls along dark lanes and lonesome field footpaths, where, although his howling makes the hearer's blood run cold, his footfalls make no sound.

Gytrash - Yorkshire lore. Often appearing as a black dog, mule, or horse with fiery red eyes, it would haunt out-of-the-way paths at sunset in search of travelers who had lost their way.

Bucca Dhu - Cornish lore. A horned spirit. Its counterpart being Bucca Gwidder. Both translate as black spirit and white spirit. An elemental force known for its association with the sea and the land.

#Britain #pagan

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Re. Hymn to Spirits

deliabear (Debbie)

8th Apr 2024 10:33am

Gave me a good chill! I love your description of them snarling through
the storm clouds.

Read poems by deliabear

Northern_Soul

8th Apr 2024 10:45am

Thanks. Sometimes it makes me laugh that England is this stereotypical green and pleasant land. While it is green and pleasant in part, I challenge anybody to stand on one of our coastlines and not feel the undertone to this place. To not feel the shipwrecks and the bloodshed and the plunderers haunt them. Our beaches are grey and stoney and barren. Its ancient. And I love every single part of this countries ways and its history.

Thanks for dropping in. :)

-M